


gold rush

by Zephyroh



Category: Hololive, Hololive En, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: College AU, F/F, Fluff, Pining, no beta: we die like yagoo's dream, obligatory taylor swift title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29879544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zephyroh/pseuds/Zephyroh
Summary: Calli couldn’t tell exactly when it started, or how exactly things had come to this.Or more precisely, she didn’t think there was an exact moment, and rather an accumulation of small ones, like stone bricks slowly placed upon a paved road where she was now driving on at full speed, and probably heading straight into a wall. But hey, if you gotta go, might as well go in style, am I right ladies?The wall in question being: her intense crush on her new roommate, crush that she had not been prepared for and was generally not equipped to deal with at all.
Relationships: Mori Calliope/Ninomae Ina'nis
Comments: 12
Kudos: 94





	gold rush

**Author's Note:**

> must a fic have a plot? is it not enough to just have characters pining and vibing? 
> 
> titled based on gold rush by taylor swift (evermore, 2021)

**gold rush**

Calli couldn’t tell exactly when it started, or how exactly things had come to this. 

Or more precisely, she didn’t think there was an exact moment, and rather an accumulation of small ones, like stone bricks slowly placed upon a paved road where she was now driving on at full speed, and probably heading straight into a wall. But hey, if you gotta go, might as well go in style, am I right ladies? 

The wall in question being: her intense crush on her new roommate, crush that she had not been prepared for and was generally not equipped to deal with at all. 

It had started with an ad in the university’s newspaper. Available room in a two bedroom apartment, at the perfect distance between the university and the radio station she was interning in, the roommate described as a quiet night owl in art school, not much of a party goer and preferred slow movie nights at home on a friday evening. Everything about that sounded absolutely perfect to Calli, and at the time, she had no idea how perfect exactly. 

Eager to start her life of independence, she had immediately contacted the person, and everything had been settled very quickly over the phone and some e-mails in the matter of days. It was only after Amelia had helped her move in and had pointed it out that she had realized she had not, in fact, met the roommate in person.

Cue to two month later, where she was currently praying for the sweet release of death on Amelia’s couch. 

“What the fuck does that even mean,  _ ‘you don’t know if you’re dating’ _ ?”, asked her soon to be ex best friend who had never learned how to let anything go in her life, often to Calli’s very own mortification. 

“It’s just- I dunno, weird man. She’s just- argh goddamnit.”, was the very eloquent response Calli managed out, rubbing her sore temples in a vain attempt to release the pressure hammering her head. 

“Yeah, you want to bang her, I got that much.”, Amelia pressed on, popping a chip inside her mouth and chewing it loudly.

The snapping sound of crips-burnt potato hitting enamel was enough to drive Calli insane. She felt the irritation flare up inside her. Amelia knew her too well, and had never been shy about showing how well she knew how to press all of Calli’s buttons. 

“Would you please, for the love of God, close your mouth?”, she snapped. 

“Funny, that’s actually the opposite of what you mom said to me last nighfhj-”

Amelia’s final words were muffled by a cushion landing violently on her face, soon to be pushed down by Calli who knelt on the couch for more leverage, straddling her friend’s waist. Amelia struggled beneath her, flailing her arms around to get Calli off her but too distracted by her own laughter to be effective. Eventually, Calli’s exhaustion took over her body and she let the blonde devil out of her grasp, slouching back on the couch with a pained whine as every nerve in her body made her feel their discontent. 

She would never drink alcohol ever again. (That was the fourth time in the past ten days she had muttered those exact same words.)

“Okay, okay.”, Amelia conceded, wiping tears from the corner of her eyes, turning back to face her distraught friend. “So, what makes you think you could be dating, and what makes you doubt it?”

Calli sighed deeply, passing a hand through her hair. “She’s just like, so fucking nice, and touchy feely and cuddly with me all the time, but I don’t even remember who started it? Maybe she’s like that with everyone, you know?”.

Amelia raised an unimpressed eyebrow, looking at her placidly as the sheer ridiculousness of Calli’s word sank in. 

“So you spend your week-ends feeling each other up in your pajamas, but you still don’t have the guts to kiss her? Jesus Mori, you are a lost cause.”

“We are NOT feeling each other up!”, Calli protested a little bit too abruptly, making her best friend snicker. Calli could feel her ears being on fire, and see the delight dancing in Amelia’s eye as she stuttered the words, flustered like a lobster in a boiling pan. “It’s just cuddling. Just ‘cause  _ you  _ can’t spoon with someone without getting horny doesn’t mean it’s the case with everyone!”

“You didn’t seem to mind.”, Amelia fired back cheekily with a wink, furthering embarrassing Calli. 

The latter cursed every gods in existence, once more reminded of the failed attempt at dating her best friend. This had had the particular noxious side effect of giving the blonde way too much ammunition and knowledge for her to ever live a peaceful, tease-free life ever again. 

Putting her head in her hands, Calli let out a sound halfways between a sob and laugh. “Maybe I should just give up and move out. That’ll be easier for everyone.”

Seeing the desperation in her friend, Amelia swallowed back her jokes, scooting closer to rub Calli’s back in a soothing rhythm. “Or maybe you just need to woman up and talk about your feelings for once in your life, with an actual person and not your lyrics book.”

Calli’s head perked up, blinking slowly through a blank stare. “That is probably the worst advice you have ever said to me.” 

An exasperated groan left Amelia’s chest as she rolled eyes to the ceiling. Shooting her hands up as a clear sign that she was giving up, she threw a tired glance at her best friend. 

“Fine then, I’ll stop trying to help you. But also, I love you, and I’m throwing you out. No more sleeping on my couch to avoid your sexy roommate because you can’t deal with your lust. I’m doing this for your own good, Mori.” For good measure, she empathized her word with a hard shove against Calli’s side and a high pitched hiccup lined with fatality. 

“What! No, you can’t do that! What am I supposed to do now?  _ Go home _ ?”, she asked, the panic in her voice perfectly mixing in with the incredulity. 

Amelia paused, giving Calli a pointed look as the woman took the time to realize what she had just said. 

Petulantly, she whined loudly. “You are aware that you are heartlessly throwing me to the wolves, right?”

“Well, I sure hope she’ll eat you ou-”

The rest of the sentence died on Amelia’s lips as she dodged her head to avoid the remote thrown at her face, crashing on the floor behind her. 

* * *

Calli’s heart was racing her chest as she turned the key, unlocking the front door to her apartment with trembling hands. From her body still metabolizing alcohol, for sure, she lied to herself. 

Friday nights had become something she dreaded as much as she longed for them. 

The habit started as a mutual understanding between them, needing no spoken words to seal the tacit pact. If Calli was no stranger to partying during the week, her week-ends were a sacred resting time. Between interning at the radio station and working on her own personal and academic projects, sometimes leading her to staying up late until the middle of the night, she couldn’t afford to sacrifice her peace recklessly. Similarly, her roommate's sleep schedule was equally as fucked up, and they had found some sort of synchronicity in their weird circadian cycle, meeting in the kitchen at odd hours to get some tea for one, and cans of energy drinks for the other. 

That was actually the first step of their relationship, beyond existing in the same space: light chatter in the middle of the night, bonding over lost sleep and working through eyelids heavy with slumber. Calli would then return to her room much more awake than she left it. The natural progression of this was the sacred movie night of fridays. It started with Calli, after an excruciatingly long week, marathoning her comfort series: the Shrek movies. Wrapped around her blanket like a tired taco, she had just been chilling, watching the movie and mouthing along the dialogues when her roommate joined her, settling silently at her side, and they had spent the rest of the evening, no words exchanged, enjoying the movies in a comfortable silent bubble, sharing snacks and tea. The following week, she was the one who joined her roommate, and it had turned into a routine. 

She wasn’t sure how the cuddling started, nor who initiated it. She just remembered dozing off one evening, only to wake up from her slumber an half hour later, having missed most of the movie’s plot, but couldn’t really care because her head had been resting on her roommate’s shoulder, the latter’s leaning into her side, and her heart had stopped on the spot. She had not paid a sliver of attention to anything else the rest of the night, much too aware of the proximity of their body nestled on the couch, and marvelling at how perfectly at ease she felt despite her heart hammering in her chest. And the following progression of  _ that  _ had been soft touches as fingers ran along her arms, or sometimes a hand easing into her hair, gently scratching the base of her skull, and her nestling into the crook of her roommate’s neck, sprawled gracessly on the couch like an old indoor cat, sometimes even leading to them falling asleep on the couch only to wake up wrapped around each other in the morning, but never actually talking about it. 

And now, two months later, after countless near heart attacks and the blood in her body having made a habit of being stored in her cheek and ears, Calli had come to the slow realisation that she had, in fact, a big fat crush on her perfect, beautiful, gentle, talented and very touchy feely roommate, and had no idea how to express it. 

It wasn’t until talking about it with Watson that she had started to wonder if, somehow, in this messed up universe they lived it, there was a slight possibility, a vague probability, an elusive hope that her feelings might be reciprocated. 

She had never questioned the domestic routine they had seamlessly fallen into. From the cooking breakfast together in the morning to the bringing each other tea during long work evenings, passing by the lending of clothes when one had forgotten a sweater or the sharing of an umbrella as they made there way home from the grocery store under the rain, each having secretly bought snacks the other enjoyed, everything had happened so naturally that she never thought their dynamic as anything but normal. After all, she had never had a roommate before, bar from maybe Watson whom she had shared most of her life with since highschool, but that didn’t count because they still had sort of dated before deciding that it wasn’t for them. 

So, really, who was to say this was not completely a normal, platonic roommate relationship? 

Well, Watson for once, as when Calli had mentioned all of this to her, the question Amelia raised felt like a ten tons stone dropped at the bottom of her stomach when her friend very casually asked, an endeared smile on her lips and tone even as ever, as if she wasn’t about to completely upset the way Calli experienced the world: 

“Oh, so you’re dating then? That’s cute.” which led to Calli going through an existential crisis. 

Mind racing barely as fast as the vital organ in her ribcage, she crossed the door’s threshold, immediately surrounded by the scent of her roommate’s candles and the smell of green tea hanging in the air. Like an actor responding to a director’s cue, her body relaxed automatically, ignoring the panic in her mind. When she reached the living room, having peeled off her coat and unceremoniously dropped her bag in the entrance, she realized that the movie had already started, and her roommate was already positioned in her usual spot on the couch - sticking to her side despite having plenty of room to get comfortable. As if she was... waiting for Calli? 

The sound of Calli’s hip hitting the door frame as a curse escaped her lips made the girl turn her head towards Calli, and the latter could have sworn she had the power to switch the world in slow motion the way her black hair swirled around her face like a curtain of ink, framing her face in a blur of black and light orange at the tips. The small, though guarded smile that grew on her lips made Calli’s heart somersault into her throat. 

“Calliope!” Calli had always disliked the sound of her full name until approximately two month ago. “I wasn’t sure if I should have been expecting you. I’m sorry I started without you.”, the girl apologized, knitting her eyebrow into a sorrowful expression. 

“Oh no, don’t worry! I wasn’t even sure I’d be awake or even alive at this time to be honest - , kinda had a long night. Or short one rather… I should have texted and warned you, I’m sorry, Ina.” Calli fumbled through her words helplessly as guilt crept into her stomach. 

Ina’s expression melted into a soft smile, and she patted the spot next to her, beaconing Calli to join her. “Well, you barely missed anything. Hop on.”

On autopilot, Calli did as she was instructed, physically incapable of pulling away from the magnetism that Ina emitted, like a cat addicted to catnip. Immediately as she settled down, Ina’s arm found tis way around her shoulder, pulling her in and Calli’s worries, as well as any coherent thought in her head, vanished in the blink of an eye, with just a glance of deep blue purple irises that seem to glow in the dim light of the room. 

Minutes passed punctuated by the slow movement of Ina’s hand on her hair, and Calli might have fallen asleep if not for the question burning at the edge of her lips that she did not dare to ask. She loathed the way her jaw would lock up everytime she even thought about enouncuating it, the way her tongue would still against the hood of her mouth like it was stuck on ice and the way the words would die on her throat before she even attempted a sentence. What a coward she was… 

But then, Ina fidgeted against her, adjusting her position on the couch to lean more comfortably into Calli’s side and she hummed appreciatively, sipping the tea she had made for the both of them, Calli knew she could not go on like that any longer. She would implode in the fire on her heart if she did nothing. 

Taking in a deep breath, she gathered her thoughts, trying to hype herself up with a voice that sounded very much like Watson’s. 

_ “Come on, Mori, grow some goddamn gonads!” _

“Ina, can I ask you something?” was apparently the best introduction she could come up with on the spot. As soon as the words blurted out of her mouth, her throat dried up and her mind went as blank as Ina’s unpainted canvas. 

Immediately, Ina’s attention snapped towards her and Calli’s stomach fluttered. 

“Of course, Calliope.”, she answered with a smile, oblivious to the internal thunderstorm happening inside Calli’s brain.

“I have a question. Or more like a request. Well, not really- a proposition? No that doesn’t sound right- more like, hum…” 

As the soup of words left her mouth, a chaos only matched by a den of headless chicken, Calli could feel herself sink deeper and deeper into the couch, eyes wild as she desperately tried to avoid Ina’s piercing gaze, as if not looking at her would prevent Ina from witnessing Calli unravel in front of her very eyes at the simple task of asking a question. 

Ina placed a hand on her cheek, barely grazing the skin and Calli felt like a glass statue in a construction site. Immediately, she stopped mumbling and looked at Ina’s patient, perfect face. 

“I’m listening to this question/request/proposition.”, Ina said softly with a smile.

There was no turning back now. 

“It’s actually more of an invite, really.” Calli finally stammered out, suddenly entirely too aware of Ina’s skin against her own, of the fact that, as she turned to face her, Ina was now sitting so very close to her, and how if she leaned in just a little bit…

Patient as ever, Ina raised an eyebrow, waiting for the continuation. 

“So hum, I actually finished the song I was working on, and Death-sensei agreed to play it on air tomorrow night at the radio station and he even planned sort of a... launch party, I guess?”. Now that she had started, the words eased out of her and she felt like she could finally breathe. “So yeah, we’re gonna do a little party at the studio to celebrate, and I was wondering if you would like to come with…?” 

Perfect. 

“Y’a know, as my friend.” 

Fucking idiot. 

Something passed through Ina’s face before fading into her eyes, drowned in her unreadable expression. When she responded, it was with excitement, laced with a hint of something Calli was not able to place. 

“Calli, that’s wonderful! Congratulations! Of course I’d love to come.” With a nudge on Calli’s side, she added with a sly smile. “After all these nights working on it until you were but a shell of a human filled with energy drinks, I am dying to see the result!”. 

A wide grin broke out on Calli’s face whose cheeks and neck matched the hue of her hair. Trying to contain her excitement, she passed a hand through her locks, clearing her throat and toning down the smile stretching her lips until it hurt. “Great, great. That’s great. I’m glad.”

She settled back on the couch before being pulled in once more by Ina, and she could not have named a single actor, cited a single line of dialogue, or explained the plot of whatever was happening on the screen in front of them. 

* * *

Calli did not sleep much, and Calli did not sleep well. 

The combination of a week worth of partying to avoid going home, overworking herself to meet her deadlines, and her entire nervous system having been on fire ever since she found the guts to ask Ina out - as a fucking friend like a fucking brainless idiot - had rendered her a mindless husk, only capable of motor functions if provided the adequate fuel, namely, energy drinks or coffee. 

She was resting her head against the top shelf of the kitchen, revelling in the sweet sound of the coffee machine brewing, a promise of chemical stimulant soon to enter her body, when a light touch on the shoulder made her jump, body jolting abruptly, and the top of her head crashed loudly against the shelf above her.

“MotherFUCK!” was met with “Ohmygodimsosorryareyouokay?”. 

Pain pulsed through her head like a drumstick hitting a cymbal but then Ina’s fingers were brushing the side of her temple and maybe life was worth living after all, she thought. Still half asleep, Calli let herself enjoy the touch, already feeling the red creeping up her neck. 

“... Calli?”

“Guh! What?”

Finally, she opened her eyes to be welcomed by the magnificent sight of Ina’nis, bedhair sticking up around her face in adorable little spikes and knots, the fogginess of slumber still in her half-lidded eyes, wearing her favourite octopus hoodie, bearing a worried expression. Once again, Calli felt like an idiot for causing her so much trouble. 

“I was asking if you were okay, you looked like you were sleeping while standing up.”, she explained, eyebrows furrowed. 

Calli’s sleepy brain could only focus on one singular thing, and it had decided that she should bop Ina right between the eye where the frown was, in order to loosen the knot. She didn’t like it when Ina frowned. And so, body reacting before her neurons, she did exactly that. She stuck her index out, pressing it on the middle of Ina’s forehead.

That had the merit of making Ina raise her eyebrows, almost disappearing into her hairline as a surprised expression replaced her worried one. After a second of an indescribable staring contest, surrounded by a silence as heavy as Ina’s confusion, Calli realized what she had just done. Awkwardly, she pulled back her finger, bringing her hand to her nape to scratch her neck in embarrassment.

“I’m okay, don’t worry. Not fully awake yet. But that bump in the head sure was helpful!” She forced a laugh, hoping that the awkward moment would not be acknowledged by either of them. 

Ina winced as a small laugh escaped her mouth then brought her hand to where Calli had hit the furniture, massaging it softly. Calli’s freshly reconnected braincells short-circuited again. 

“Well, be careful about that pretty head of yours, will you?”. Her touch and gaze lingering for a couple of seconds, she shot Calli a small smile before turning around, heading towards the fridge as started preparing breakfast. . 

It would only be two hours later, during her economy class which she was definitely not paying attention to, that Calli would fully process this event by texting the details and break down of every second to Amelia accompanied by the gif  _ “What does it mean? What does it all mean?” _ . 

The gif she received in response made her simultaneously blush, groan and choke loudly on her coffee cup, granting her the death stare of several nearby students.

* * *

“Tell me you did not.”

“...”

“Oh my goddess Calliope Mori, when I said you were a lost cause, I had no idea how deep it was. Were you always that incompetent romance wise? Was I just bamboozled by your breasts the whole time?”

“I will punch you in the face, Watson.”

After a couple more panicked and desperation reeking texts, Amelia had ordered an emergency meeting at the nearby coffee shop, where she also had an eye for one of the waitresses but that was another story. Of course, she was here for her best friend, and only her best friend. The aforementioned was currently facing the table, forehead pressed on the wood as a continuous whine emerging from her lungs was the only indicator that she was, indeed, alive. 

“ _ ‘As a friend’ _ , like, you just said that, unprompted, with your whole chest.”, Amelia pressed on, still too flabbergasted to actually tease her. 

“Yes, I am aware that this is a thing I’ve said, and that I have now to deal with . Could you move on, please.”, Calli replied, finally sitting up, eyes squinting at the bright neon light above her.

“... Not but like, you friendzoned yourself,  _ as you were asking her out _ . That has got to be a world wide record. Date fail RTA, you are the champion.”

“I know!”

“You have to fix it!”, Amelia insisted, knocking on the table for added emphasis. 

Calli whined again, falling back against her chair. “But hooooow?”

“Do I have to do everything myself, here? Invite her to dinner before the party or something, stick your tongue in her mouth to greet her in the morning, walk around your apartment naked after a shower for all I care, just do  _ something _ !”

An agonizing wail, not unlike the sound of an old hyena exhaling its last breath on a hot summer day, was the only response Calli could manage. 

* * *

“So, probably dumb question but, are you nervous?”

As it were, Calli had been nervous for the past half hour, but for very different reasons that the question implied. Unable to sustain Ina’s gaze, because her eyes were on her face that also bore her lips and Calli could only focus on them if she looked an Ina, she stabbed the takoyaki ball in front of her with one chopstick with a concentrated expression. 

“I mean, it’s only the local radio station at midnight, it’s not like there’s gonna be a huge audience or anything.” Calli deflected. 

“I still think it’s amazing.” Ina countered lightly, sipping on her drink. 

Calli hated the way she was too aware of any movement Ina made, how her body weight shifted on the stool when she reached out for a napkin, how her arm graze Calli’s shoulder as she did so, and how Calli could only fixate on the tongue darting out of parted lips to clean the bit of sauce at the corner of Ina’s mouth. 

She was never going to make tonight without losing the last shred of her sanity. 

“I still think  _ you’re _ amazing.” was the final nail in her coffin as Ina shot her a proud smile, nudging her shoulder with her own. Calli tried to mask the delighted strangled sound that escaped her mouth with a loud cough. 

“Wait until you hear the song, maybe you’re gonna hate it!”, she joked with a hollow laugh. 

Ina let out a puff, rolling her eyes. “I don’t see that happening, Calliope. You are very talented.”

As Calli had no adequate answer to that, she simply blushed at the compliment, mumbling a vague ‘thank you’ as a flood of red crashed on her face. 

Calli had, for once, taken up one of Watson’s advice: she had invited Ina to eat some takoyakis before the launch party, which meant that she had two whole hours alone with her, with her mind equally pre-occupied by the premiere of her song and her heart performing a whole circus show in her chest everytime Ina did, well, anything basically. 

How had she not realized sooner how bad she had it?

Taking in a deep breath, the singer gathered her thoughts, chastising her mouth into forming proper, coherent words. “Thank you for coming tonight. I’m very glad you accepted.” 

“Of course, Calli! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Ina responded immediately with a blinding grin. “I’m also very curious to meet the famous Death-sensei...”, she continued with a bit of an hesitation at the end. Calli had gotten so used to her boss’s nickname that she sometimes forgot it could sound strange to people. But then again, the tattoos, piercing, and general clothing he always wore would soon make sense of it for Ina when she’d meet him. “And the infamous Amelia Watson too.”, Ina continued with a conspiratorial tone. 

Calli immediately groaned. “Guh, do not, under any circumstances, listen or believe anything she says. That’s a blanket statement for like… always.”

Ina’s light giggle sounded like heaven to Calli’s ear, and she couldn’t resist the smile that grew on her face. 

“Ah come on, she’s known you since highschool, I’m sure she had tons of gossip about you, and I cannot wait to hear them. I will bribe if needed!”

“Yeah, well, with Watson, you’re not gonna need bribes, she’s definitely going to tell you, unprompted without you even asking for it…” Calli mumbled, stabbing her last takoyaki with force. “But don’t get it twisted, she’s done much worse than I ever did! If anything, I was the one that got pulled in her shenanigans!”

Encouraged by Ina’s laugh, Calli found herself growing more at ease as she recounted some of her highschool adventures with Amelia, skipping class to smoke weed behind the bleachers, breaking into the secretary’s office to recover Amelia’s confiscated phone, and a hundred more little anecdotes that seem to delight Ina. An hour later, she was talking with animation, throwing her arms around for emphasis as she described a scene while Ina was watching her intensely, chin rested on her hand with glowing eyes and an unmoving smile on her lips, occasionally interjecting with a comment or a mere giggle. 

They made their way to the radio station, walking side by side in the falling night as the sound of the campus faded into the faint humming of the wind. Their light chatter turned into comfortable silence as they enjoyed the night fresh air, a welcomed sensation for Calli whose face had been on fire the whole evening. At one point, Ina wrapped an arm around her elbow, leaning into her side as they walked, even though Calli was pretty sure she was actually floating above the ground. 

The first thing she saw upon entering the small studio, aside the organisation of the room facing the recording booth with a table at the center garnished with snacks and drink, was Amelia’s piercing, teasing stare as the latter winked and shot her a thumb up, gesturing to Ina at her arms. Calli responded was a death glare, a silent warning for her best fried to be on her fucking best behaviour fort he night. From across the room, Amelia shrugged noncommittally as if to indicate that anything was fair game, and she wouldn’t promise anything. 

The annoyed grunt Calli was about to let out died in her throat when she noticed that Ina was watching them with a smirk. 

“So that must be Amelia, I take it?”

Calli nodded, and was about to respond before a muscular arm was thrown around her neck, pulling her in as a billowing laughter resonated through the studio, effectively pulling her away from Ina. 

“There she is, the guest of honor!” Death-sensei greeted affectionately. Calli’s flare of aggression at the sudden interruption immediately subsided when she met her boss' excited gaze. He turned to Ina with a polite smile. “Nice to meet you. Very sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I borrow Miss Mori for a few moments?”

“Not at all! And it’s very nice to finally meet you as well.”, Ina responded, her polite tone matching his. . 

Reluctantly, Calli let herself get dragged away, not without a fina, dramatic wave to Ina. 

The whole evening passed by like a drunken night, a blur of conversations, chatting and laughing that felt like hours to Calli. She might have dissociated as the song was playing, not yet able to fully grasp the reality of her song, her work she had spent so much time and energy in being actually out in the world for other people to experience. The flow of congratulations and pats in the back that followed felt like a dream and she couldn’t tell exactly what she did or who she talked to for a good half hour after the premiere. 

The one thing that made her snap back to reality was a dreadful, yet heartwarming sight she caught in the corner of her eyes as she was absentmindedly humming at whatever the guy in front of her was saying. Up the small flight of stairs leading to a few stacks of shelves, leaning on the guardrail with red solo cups in hand were Ina and Amelia. Panic flooded half of Calli’s brain as the other appreciated the sight of her best friend and crush chatting lightly and for a moment, she envisioned a future where this could happen regularly, where she would come up the stairs to join them and wrap her arms around Ina. Instead, she downed her own drink, failing to get her attention back to the interlocutor in front of her.

The event ended before Calli could fully process it, and without having the opportunity to actually spend time with Ina as various friends and colleagues kept hogging her time. The studio gradually emptied itself as people left sparingly; she tried to swallow back her disappointment when she could not find either Ina or Amelia. Defeated, she signaled to Death-sensei that she was heading to the recording booth, needing some time alone. 

Despite the disappointment, Calli still felt exatic. She let her eyes wander around the tiny room she had spent so much time in; she knew every inch of like the back of her hand. The crack in the wall crawling up in jagged edges, almost resembling a caricatural lightning bolt, the plug behind the small couch tilted on the side and slightly coming off the wall, the bump in the couch that caused her so much back pain when she took power naps during recordings, the whining noise the microphone made as she turned it on its holder; everything here was like home to her. 

With a sigh of relief, she unceremoniously dropped her body on the couch - on the comfy part - propping her aching feet up on the small coffee table. She closed her eyes, head falling back against the wall and a smile grew on her lips as she recalled the evening, the song, the people. 

“So this is your sanctuary, huh?”

The voice made her heart miss several beats in her chest. She let out a small startled cry as she jumped abruptly, snapping her eyes open towards the newcomer. Then her heart missed another several beats when she realized it was Ina. Leaning against the doorframe of the recording booth, she was watching Calli with an unreadable expression, an even, composed smile on her lips. 

Caught off guard, Calli’s scrambled brain cells only managed out a vague mumbling sound not even remotely resembling any word of the human language. Ina giggled, bringing a hand to her mouth to cover up her amusement and Calli noticed the red on her cheeks and her eyes shining brighter than usual. She was definitely a little tipsy, and it was the most adorable thing Calli had ever laid eyes on. The sudden urge to reach out and cup Ina’s face rose up deep within her. In order to fight it off, she hopped off the couch and started pacing the room, suddenly very self conscious of her every movement, and very much aware of Ina’s piercing eye tracking them. 

Eventually, she reconnected her brain, helped by the numbing, relaxing effect of the cheap red wine in her system. 

“Behold: my kingdom.”, she said theatrically, extending her arms to encompass the room. 

Ina giggled again, the sound a melody in Calli’s heart. 

“Well, your majesty, could I humbly request permission to set foot on your precious ground?”, Ina asked, bowing her head. 

“Why of course, you may.” Calli would have been embarrassed by the stupidly wide grin on her face if she had the ability to care about anything else than making Ina laugh in this moment. 

Ina took a careful step in, as if entering the vicinity without proper respect was a sinful act. Under Calli’s watchful eye, she strolled around, taking the time to look at the shelves of CDs stacked up against the wall, letting her finger graze the button of the soundboard, glancing at the microphones until, finally, her attention returned to Calli who has not moved an inch. 

“I have something for you.”, Ina said in a soft voice, as if talking too loudly would shatter the bubble they had found themselves in. Then, as if something struck her, a jolt of realization passed through her face. “Actually, I have two!”

“But I don’t have anything for you”, was the only thing Calli came up with in response. 

As she approached, Ina rolled her eyes, laughing. “Why would you need to, silly?”. 

She dug something out of her pocket, handing it to Calli. “Amelia had to leave in a rush apparently; she asked me if I could return this to you before I went home.”

As the object dropped in Calli’s hand, the air in her lung was smothered by a whiff of love and gratitude toward her best friend washed through her. Eyeing the clockwork hairclip in her hand, Calli thanked every divinity in existence for having put a friend like Amelia Watson in her life, one who would lend a precious family heirloom just so their best friend could talk to their crush. In the back of her mind, she knew Amelia would never let her live that down, but in this instant, she could not bring herself to care. 

“And, since I’m here, maybe right now would be a good time to give you this...” 

Ina’s voice dragged Calli out of her musing. Her head snapped back up, full attention directed towards the girl, who, for once, was not looking her in the eye with her usual intense stare, but rather was averting her gaze, fidgeting with something in her hands. 

“It’s not much but- I just thought of you and I- I didn’t know what would have been a good opportunity to give you this, so when you talked about your song yesterday, I thought it would be perfect. Anyway, here.”

Cheeks adorably flushed and still unwilling to meet Calli’s gaze, she handed her object she was holding. It was a small frame with a painting encased in it - a painting of Calli in faded pink shades, the little phantom skeleton head, logo of her favourite hoodie, floating behind her as she wore a cool spiked jacket and a diadem on top of her head. 

Emotion gripped at Calli’s throat and she blinked a few times, worried that actual tears would come up. Eventually, she breathed out, still staring at the framed painting.

“It kinda looks like an album cover…”

Ina shifted her weight on her feet, rocking back on forth on her heels. “Well, I would never be as pretentious as to assume you would use it this way but… it’s kinda what I had in mind?”, she responded, finally looking at Calli in the eye. 

Calli took a moment to process the information before, for once, acting on impulse without second guessing herself. She threw her arms around Ina’s small frame, pulling her in. Immediately, Ina’s arm found their way around her waist, and Calli buried her face against Ina’s shoulder. They stood there, in comfortable silence, until Calli trusted her voice to not shake when she whispered “Thank you.” against the crook of Ina’s neck, lips brushing the skin ever so slightly. Calli felt the shiver pass through Ina’s body. 

She eventually and begrudgingly detached herself from Ina and noticed the flush on her roommate’s cheek. Embolden by the rush of adrenaline flooding her system, the buzzing alcohol fogging her mind, and her heart hammering in her chest with unprecedented sheer joy, she gave into her fantasies, scenarios that had been playing in her head for weeks now, and cupped Ina’s face with her hand. In the back of her mind, she registered Ina’s curling her hand into a fist, grabbing the front of her shirt, and then, finally, she bent down and kissed her. 

When their lips met, a sigh of relief escaped Ina’s mouth who immediately leaned up on her tiptoes to press her mouth harder against Calli. Their lips slid against each other softly into a kis filled with tenderness and Calli smiled, eyes closed and utterly content. Ina pulled back slightly, resting her forehead against Calli’s. 

“If I had known this was to be your reaction, I would have given you that damn drawing ages ago…”, Ina grumbled before grabbing Calli’s neck, pressing another kiss on her lips, more eager this time. 

Parting her lips to let Ina’s tongue in with a moan, Calli let herself be pushed back against the table, a strangled whine of pleasure escaping her lungs when her hips bumped against the furniture. Ina tilted her head, deepening the kiss, her hand slithering into Calli’s hair, nails scraping the base of her skull. Calli’s entire body was immediately set aflame and her breathing became uneven. She may not have expected Ina to be so passionate, but she sure as hell wasn’t complaining. 

Pulling back for an instant, she tried to gather her thoughts and composure, with difficulty as Ina’s hand slided down the side of her neck to her on her collarbone, fiddling with the top button of her shirt. 

“Holy shit.”, she breathed out, chest heaving. 

The low giggle that got out of Ina’s mouth as the girl placed tiny kisses below Calli’s jaw sent a thousand volt of electricity through Calli’s body, settling down in her core. Then, at her grand despair, Ina stopped her ministrations, pulling back to face her, pupils completely dilated in a hungry look that made Calli’s throat dry up. 

“I’m sorry, I let myself get carried away for a moment.”, Ina whispered with a huff of a laugh.

“No worries, all good, dawg.” Calli shot back immediately because she had a monthly subscription to the mortifying ideal of not having a mouth filter. 

However, as Calli’s embarrassment lit up her cheek in red, Ina chuckled adorably before pressing a gentle kiss on Calli’s lips. 

Regaining their breath and minds, they stayed in this position for a moment, wrapped around each other in a bubble of bliss, basking in each other’s presence. 

Eventually, Calli broke the silence, her heart still wild in her ribcage. “So hum, does that mean that you’re my girlfriend now?”, she asked sheepishly, still unsure and unable to fully process what had just happened.

Ina laughed against Calli, the sound vibrating through both their bodies. 

“Yes, Calliope, I’m pretty sure that's what it means.” she said, nuzzling in the crook of Calli’s neck. Then her voice took on a playful intonation. “Or I guess I could be your. sign-Ina-ficant other!”

Calli’s heart fluttered when Ina puffed at her own joke and she tightened her hold on her, never wanting to let her go. Resting her chin at the top of Ina’s head, marvelling at how well their body fit together, Calli heard herself say, as the happiness she felt was overriding her cognitive abilities. 

“Cool, cool, cool. Neat. Dope. So hum, do you wanna go watch Shrek?”

**Author's Note:**

> and there we have it, a bit of shameless fluff to hold on to my rarepair liker title. 
> 
> i might post a deleted scene on my twitter later on (@Zephyroh): the conversation between amelia and ina, but as i wanted to keep the fic in Calli's pov, I took it out of the main fic.


End file.
